Starting with the 56km on Saturday, a large men’s group formed early on into a rhythm that was far from record pace, but one that would see fireworks later and that is exactly what would happen. With Lesotho’s Lebello Mopenyane out in front as the pack crested the top of Chapmans Peak, a chase pack formed which was led by Nedbank running club athletes Dan Matshailwe, Lloyd Bosman and Degefa Lafebo, all three running their debut Two Oceans. 

As they made their way through the marathon mark and approaching the tough climb up Constantia Nek, Matshailwe and Zimbabwe’s Givmore Mudzinganyama split the pack up, as they started the chase to close the gap on Mopenyane. Cresting the top of the hill, Matshailwe dropped back, clutching his left leg, something he had been doing as early as 20km. “I was having some niggle sensations on the leg, and it was disturbing me,” said Matshailwe afterwards. 

Going through 50km, Matshailwe was 36 seconds back with Mudzinganyama now passing Mopenyane into the lead. It proved to be a ding dong battle as Matshailwe moved into 2nd and was starting to make inroads on Mudzinganyama who by now was looking back at every chance. 

With grit and determination written all over Matshailwe’s face, he gave it his all but came up short, crossing the line 2nd just a scant 22 seconds behind Mudzinganyama. Just like his debut last year at Comrades where he finished 3rd, Matshailwe proved he is one of South Africa’s leading ultra-distance runners with yet another podium placing as well as finishing first South African. “I am so happy with my performance today because it was my first time here,” said Matshailwe. “I will come back next year again to try for the win, and I want to thank my club Nedbank and my coach Dave Adams for all the assistance getting me to where I am today.”

Behind him, Nedbank running club teammate Lafebo hung on for 6th, with Bosman agonizingly losing a gold medal finish in the last 3km to finish 12th. Whilst the men’s race started very slow, the women’s race was the complete opposite with defending champion Gerda Steyn going out hard, and taking Nedbank running club athletes Amelework Fikadu Bosho, Tinibeb Ali, Yeshiembet Nguse and Asnakech Yami following her heels. 

Bosho dropped back going through Muizenberg but later said that it was a tactical decision. “The girls were running too fast, and I wanted to save my energy for later in the race,” said Bosho. It was a move that paid dividends as the pack up front started to falter and Bosho started to come through, picking off one athlete by another. Steyn had moved ahead but Bosho made her way into 2nd place with 10km to go and maintained through to the finish to improve her 3rd place from last year. “I am happy to be on the podium again and next year I want to come back with more speed so that I can challenge for the win and look at the course record.”

Her Nedbank running club teammates held on for gold medals, with Nguse finishing 5th, Ali 6th and Yami 7th. South Africa’s Adele Broodryk who used the race as a training run ahead of the Comrades Marathon finished 8th, giving the Nedbank running club 5 golds out of a possible 10 in the ladies’ race. 

Apart from the overall top 10 gold medal placings, the Nedbank running club also recorded many age group podiums in the 56km. in the men’s 50-59 age group, Wayne Spies took victory in a time of 3:41:39, a perfect run for Comrades where he will be aiming to run under 6 hours after narrowly missing out last year. In the 60-69 category, Annatjie Botes was a runaway victor winning in a fast 5:06:00. Her Nedbank running club teammate Louis Abbot took 2nd in the men’s 6-69 category narrowly missing out on victory in 4:32:06. 

The half marathon was next up on the Sunday with 16000 athletes eager to go as fast as they could. It was a tactical and slow race in both the men’s and women’s races. In the men’s race which came down to a sprint finish, Nedbank running club’s Thabang Mosiako just lost out on a podium finish with his 4th place. Teammates Moses Tarakinyu, Abera Haile and Joel Mmone finished 5th, 6th and 7th giving the Nedbank team 4 out of the top 10 places. 

In the women’s race, a sprint finish down the home straight saw Nedbank running clubs Bekelech Wariyo come 4 seconds short of a win finishing runner up in 1:14:22. Nedbank running club teammates Patience Murowe and Kelly van Vliet finished 6th and 8th respectively. Just as the Nedbank running club did in the 56km, its half marathon athletes filled the age group podiums on the day. 

In the men’s 40-49 category, Ricardo Blauw and Vakalisa Kopolo went 1-2. Teammate Christine Adriaanse took victory in the ladies 40-49 age category in an amazingly fast 1:26:10 whilst in the men’s 60-69 age category, Nedbank running club’s Friedl van der Merwe took gold in 1:29:19. 

The 550 Nedbank Running Club members who competed in the Two Oceans marathon were treated with a packed goodie bag with the contribution of our loyal sponsors and partners at the finish line.